halofanonfandomcom-20200223-history
First Battle Over Avalon
The First Battle over Avalon took place in orbit near the Unified Earth Government colony of Avalon and was one of the few naval victories of the Human-Covenant war, greatly thanks to the efforts of United Nations Space Command Fleet Admiral, Dalton van Schie, and his successor Ava Grieve as well as the crew of UNSC Arthur's Excalibur ''and many other sailors of the UNSC Navy. The battle was fought to a standstill with the UNSC forces losing a total of half their defensive fleet, an Orbital Defense Platform and several cruisers and the Covenant attackers suffering the loss of a majority of their fleet remainder being repelled or disabled by the unusually well equipped Avalon Defense Fleet led by the UNSC ''Ouranos. Chronology May 5th 2551 17:00 Avalon Capital Time: UNSC Llamrei-class battlecruiser, Arthur's Excalibur, and the supporting Nargal-class multi-functional carrier, UNSC Lady of the Lake, come under attack from an unidentified covenant craft. The Lady escapes into slipspace however the Excalibur ''is caught by enemy fire and, before it can enter slipspace, it is disabled as the ship suffers several crippling hits to it's engines and is disabled. 18:00 ACT: The ship's captain is killed and the Lieutenant Commander takes charge, with a large portion of crew left critically wounded or dead and with many survivors succumbing to radiation poisoning from the damaged engine. Those who have the highest chance of survival are loaded onto transport ships. 19:00 ACT: The Covenant vessel, assuming the ship cannot fight back, lowers it's shields and maneuvers to engage. Aboard the ''Excalibur, UNSC combat teams are loaded onto escape pods and are launched toward the enemy ship, several of the pods contain large amounts of ordinance and those that reach the enemy ship are used as boarding craft, many pods are destroyed by oncoming fire however those that survive either breach the hull with explosives land close enough to the enemy ship for teams to board. The combat teams, equipped with vacuum suits, focus on staying alive enough to delay the covenant. 20:00 ACT: As fighting breaks out onboard the enemy ship the Excalibur's remaining crew are evacuated aboard transport craft allowing for an escape. 23:00 ACT: A UNSC Llamrei-class battlecruiser arrives at the location and collects the survivors, confirming the destruction of the Excalibur. ''The ship's logs are recovered and the ship's last lieutenant commander and members of the volunteer combat teams are issued with a post-humous Colonial Cross for their efforts. May 31st 09:00 ACT: A Covenant battlecruiser is spotted by a patrol of a ''Llamrei-class battlecruiser and two Claudin-class destroyers. 11:00 ACT: The Covenant ship is pursued but evades engagement and outruns the UNSC ships, upon returning to their route the patrol is flanked by a half dozen Covenant SDV-class Corvettes led by a CCS-class battlecruiser. 13:00 ACT: The patrol engages and the Llamrei's advanced shielding protects it long enough for it to disable the CCS-class and the Claudins gain the upper hand against the Covenant corvettes. Another identical group of Covenant arrive and the three ships are overwhelmed, the captain of the Llamrei-class realises he is out of options, his weapons are disabled and much of his crew is dead''. With only a skeleton crew remaining and the two supporting ships disabled the captain rams the second CCS-class cruiser, firing the ship's heavy MAC cannon twice, once at close range before collision to take down the ship's shields and once while embedded within the covenant ship's hull. Shortly after impact nuclear ordinance is detonated within the ''Llamrei, obliterating the fore-end of the enemy vessel 20:00 ACT: Battlegroup Jupiter arrives as the Covenant begin to board the disabled Llamrei-''class, and engage immediately, a half dozen corvettes are taken unaware by the new force and destroyed. The remainder turn fire on the Battlegroup however are outmatched without their battlecruisers and are quickly dealt with. Somewhere between five and twelve survivors are recovered from the patrol ships, taking refuge in rooms being slowly starved of oxygen. June 10th-November 23rd Covenant forces arrive en masse at Avalon's moon, Arthur. The mining colonies there are overwhelmed and swiftly obliterated by plasma bombardment. One hundred and twenty thousand souls are lost in minutes. Fleet Admiral Dalton van Schie leads a strike headed by the UNSC ''Ouranos ''with four battlegroups, Aeolus, Jupiter, Helios and Apollo. Avalon's advanced fleet supported by heavy Orbital Defence Platform fire is almost a match for the Covenant onslaught however they begin losing ground week by week as the Covenant rout UNSC ships. By September the UNSC fleet over the planet has been reduced by a third and pushed back to the planet itself, van Schie is impaled with a large piece of metal as the ''Ouranos suffers damage and dies before reaching friendly lines. Ava Grieve assumes command of the fleet, ordering a retreat with HORNET mines laid between the Covenant and the planet in an asteroid field between Arthur and Avalon. The remainder of Battlegroups Jupiter, Helios and Apollo enter slipspace under the orders of Admiral Grieve and do not exit for quite some time. For the next week Covenant craft encounter both Morary and HORNET class mines as they make their advance, losing one CCS battlecruiser. The Covenant hesitate for a day before rushing Avalon's orbital defense platforms and their supporting battlegroups with concentrated fire and little delay. An hour after, the Battlegroups Jupiter, Helios and Apollo rexit slipspace behind the assault, immediately engaging the Covenant from behind. Crippling a full dozen ships before they can respond. Those that turn fire on the ships to their rear become vulnerable to the Orbital Defense Platforms and quickly ships fell due to poor coordination and tactical errors. As it became apparent they had lost, several Covenant cruisers entered slipspace and fled while others accepted their fate and fought to the death. The battle was declared a victory as the final ships were eradicated on November 23rd. Aftermath A full half of the Avalon Defense Fleet was destroyed and the more advanced elements of the fleet including the UNSC ''Ouranos ''lost function of various weapons and were severely crippled following the battle. An Orbital Defense Platform was destroyed during the fight, creating a weak link in the colony's defense in the following Fall of Avalon. Ava Grieve was commended for her initiative and confidence during the battle and was awarded the Preston Cole Star for Naval Excellence. Avalon itself initiated heavy defensive measures preparing for a consecutive attack while several programs from the "Gatehouse" Facility were reactivated. Category:Avalon Category:Battle for Avalon